Mockingjay Part I Suzanne Collins

As much as I dislike when movie franchises divide up books to create multiple films, I’m rather happy the Hunger Games final book Mockingjay was given this treatment. There was little that was skipped over, and the inclusion of aspects of the revolution Katniss had no idea about in the book gave a nice glimpse into the world of the Capital and its districts that you wouldn’t ever know about if you hadn’t read the books. The Hunger Games movies have been consistent in trying to keep info dumps and exposition at a minimum. That is really hard to do when in the book you had the ability to read Katniss’ mind to learn what was going on. For the writers to be able to slip those details into conversations while keeping the story from slowing down is really impressive.

There were some details of the book that weren’t included in the movie, but they were mostly things that hadn’t been in any of the other movies, so it would have been odd to include that stuff now. Katniss’ stylists are the main thing I noticed missing but, they weren’t included in the other movies, so it was probably best they stayed out of the story at this point. I also missed Katniss’ recovery after the Games, and missed the potential training montage of her and Gale becoming District 13 soldiers so they could visit the districts.The plot had a few slow moments, but it kept the story moving with the acting, music, and stunning visuals. While Peeta’s retrieval in the book was completely secret until the rescue team got back to district 13, movie Katniss found out about it while it was in the process, which still allowed for us to see how everything went down.

One thing I always liked about the Hunger Games is that it showed that during war, there’s not some face off where the protagonist and antagonist duke it out and everything is done. War is fought with people and the ones leading the war aren’t the ones on the battlefront. This shows in the movie, with Katniss being reluctant to stay out of the fighting and disliking how distant Coin puts herself from the districts she uses like tools to get what she wants.

Mockingjay part I is definitely a movie I would recommend, it sticks to the book's plot, but adds additional details when necessary. It does not disappoint.

The Maze Runner James Dashner

The Maze Runner, another in the dystopian revolution book to movie adaptations. The book itself has its flaws- way too many questions with no answers, at all, and a lot of unnecessary deaths, and (even after looking up the explanation of the book) it just doesn’t make sense. Well, take a convoluted book, adapt it to the big screen with even less explanation than the book, and you have The Mazerunner movie. First, the movie had adult men playing teenagers, which is always ridiculous, no matter how you spin it. Then, there is little explanation as to what's going on, either for the main character or the audience. When the main character tries to figure out where he is after getting amnesia, no one tells him any information. So of course he gets curious and does stupid stuff to try to figure out what's going on. And, according to the other citizens in the glade, he’s the only one to be curious??? It really frustrates me when characters are valued for characteristics that are human nature, like in Divergent. The explanation for how the maze works didn’t make sense either. Not only did they change it from the book to make it more complicated, they also made it completely impossible to understand. The whole escape was actually really overcomplicated. In the book, everyone escapes through an invisible door. I thought it was kind of dumb, but then the movie changed it to something even worse. A series of pointless doors that really shouldn’t be there that lead to the labs. I prefer the invisible door. The movie also cut out the mind reading, which i’m glad. It didn’t seem very believable in the books. There remained, however, all the pointless killings and deaths of the teenagers. In the series, I believe the challenges were meant to narrow down the group of teenagers down to the strongest in order to create a vaccine, but what if the strongest died arbitrarily in the maze? what if those who survived did so only by pure luck? pointlessly killing all those kids doesn’t make sense, at all. The story seems purposely bleak and I’m not into stories that get the majority of it’s thrills from shock factor. It’s also quite the sausage fest for no reason. There could easily have been as many girls as there were guys, and why send up one last girl to the group of guys. To disrupt them? I don’t really understand why WICKED was so obsessed with destroying it’s last hope. Honestly, I like the actors even if they were too old, and the movie was okay, but considering where the story is goin, I don’t think I can recommend it.  

Why Aren't Adaptations Faithful?

No book to movie adaptation can be 100% loyal. It's impossible, and even if there were the option, the movie wouldn’t be very good. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing when writers scrap the original plot of the book, however. The best adaptations fall somewhere in the middle, but are extremely rare. I’ll list here a couple of reasons writers will make the changes they do, and whether those changes are a good thing or not.

1. To appeal to a larger audience. This is why Katniss Everdeen is white, Percy Jackson is sixteen , and Hermoine Granger has nice hair. It’s to prevent potential (white male) ticket buyers from thinking that the movie’s trying to be too politically correct, or that the movie’s for kids, or that the main female character isn’t attractive enough. I think all of these are rather silly reasons, and that offering more diverse characters that are accurate to the source the movies would not only appeal more to the fanbase, but also to viewers that rarely have the opportunity to see themselves in mainstream movies.

2. To better explain what’s going on in characters heads. This can go either way for me. If the writers achieve this by adding a scene that lets you learn more about the character, I’m okay with it. If they try to do this by over explaining the character (having them narrate their feelings, or have other characters explain what's going on) then I’m not okay. Of course, this can go the other way as well, and the writers give you no insight into the character's head at all. This leads to the brooding main character with a traumatic backstory stereotype. It’s not really that great either. The worst part would probably be narration. It’s difficult to find book adaptations that don’t include some kind of monologue or explanation in the first scene. While some movies play it off well, it’s better to not include it at all. It can pull you out of the story, and treat the viewer like a child by creating a large info dump rather than explaining the plot through acting, because this is a movie.

3. To fit the time limit. While I personally wouldn’t mind a seven hour long movie completely loyal to the book with perfect casting and an excellent soundtrack, usually movie budgets don’t allow it. And not a whole lot of other people will want to watch it either. Soooo, the book will need to be slimmed down, scenes (hopefully filler) will be cut, and minor story arcs will be removed. All fans of the book can do is cross their fingers and hope the characters and plot won’t suffer too much from it.

In the end, all we can hope for is that the writers try to stay as faithful to the book as possible, and only make changes that are absolutely necessary.

Eragon Christopher Paolini

This story was begun when Paolini was only fifteen years old, and is composed of a world heavily based in the fantasy genre. It has everything you can imagine a magical book would have, dragons, elves, dwarves, warlocks, and more. While the books did have a teenager feel to them, they were still quite good, and even after a few years I still remember some scenes word for word.

Now, for the movie. Like the Divergent movie, every similarity to a previous series is made incredibly obvious, while everything unique is swept under the rug. They changed Arya’s race, from a dark haired elf to a blonde princess (the elf thing was also really important so I don't know how the authors thought they’d get away with it). The actors (save for, like, two) weren’t good. Like, at all. As for the plot, the movie did skip some of the filler of Eragon traveling and developing, but otherwise that was the only improvement. The beginning of the movie was solely exposition. Angela, the very important fortune teller, made a small and useless appearance. Arya’s rescue, and the fact that she was poisoned the whole time , was kind of messed up. She didn’t get poisoned until after her rescue? Why? And Murtagh’s personality does a complete 180. He goes from a secretive guy that refuses to travel with Eragon past the valley leading to the Varden, to a complete airhead. In the movie, he’s super pumped and excited to go to these people that he knows will imprison him. It just doesn’t make sense??? And then he’s not allowed to fight, despite Eragon being a lot less trustworthy and still taking part in the action. Also, I feel the need to mention costuming. There is no identifiable culture or fashion in this story. Where Eragon’s from, everyone’s medieval. The Varden have a north African, Middle Eastern thing going on. Okay. But then there’s Arya. She goes from wearing medieval clothing, to oriental clothing, to some Native American stereotype complete with a feather in her hair. The least the wardrobe department could do is be consistent. I’m actually not sure if she’s elf or human but you’d think she’d still have a continuity to her fashion choices. Then, the ending. I’m just going to ask, was the dragon behind the tapestry there the whole time? Or was that supposed to be a coincidence? It seemed a little ridiculous.

In the end, this movie just doesn’t work, either as a stand alone or when compared to the book. It’s rather regretful, considering the fact that staying loyal to the book would have created an immense loyal fanbase, and another three (or more) movies. The poor writing, mischaracterization, forced romance,  missing plot points, etc. kept this from happening and, unfortunately, we will probably never get the movie this book deserves.

November Movies

Spectre

out November 6

The latest James Bond movie, this film promises all the allure of the traditional Bond movie, but with a slightly more diverse cast and a little darker plot line. I’m not usually excited for new Bond movies, but Daniel Craig seems to have his eyes open to the flaws in Bond as a character, and in the 007 universe. I hope he brings this out in his acting, altering the negative parts of Bond (like the throw-away love interests), into something more positive (like Bond actually respecting the women he’s involved with on a deeper level).

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

out November 20

The finale of the Hunger Games trilogy-turned-saga, I anticipate that this will be the best of the four. If you’ve read the books, you know how the series ends, and seeing the clips in the tailor was heart wrenching. I hope they portray Katniss’ mental instability properly, as she loses those she cares about to the revolution. It was the most meaningful part, to me. That, and Katniss’ fight to keep District 13 from going overboard, fighting for revenge rather than for justice. I expect to cry a couple times in this movie, but that’s just how it goes in a series as well written in this. I just hope the movie lives up to my expectations.

The Night Before

out November 25

Okay, Okay... this movie looks super dumb, and it’s probably seriously problematic, but Anthony Mackie. Enough said. Honestly, though, from what previews I’ve seen for this movie, it doesn’t seem that bad. It has a number of actors I love and respect, like Anthony Mackie, Mindy Kaling, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Maybe I’ll wind up wincing in pain from terrible jokes, but at this point it seems to promise a silly comedy with the christmas spirit kinda sorta worked in there somehow.

The Good Dinosaur

out November 25

A cute animated movie about a dinosaur and a dog-like little boy. I’m not sure what the plot is,exactly (something about Littlefoot finding his family I think???) but it seems like it will at least be entertaining. The animation looks stunning, though the more cartoony dinosaur doesn’t quite fit the other more realistic ones, but I’m excited to see what all disney does with the movie. I’m also a little iffy when it comes to the whole ‘animals act like dogs’ thing, I just find the humor played out, and am uncomfortable with how the movie applies this trope to a person (this is also completely inaccurate to how our evolution worked out, but I digress).I won't judge this movie yet, though, and you shouldn’t either. Give it a watch this holiday break.

November Reading List

November is a quiet month for book releases. Usually the majority of those occur in October while November is for movies, but there is one book coming out this month that I’m excited for.

Winter

written by Marissa Meyer, out November 10th

While I try to avoid including books that aren’t the first in series in these sorts of lists, I felt the need to include Winter because I am sooo excited for this book. It is the fourth and final installment in The Lunar Chronicles, an amazing book series that, while the original premise may seem overdone, really is original and exciting. The fairytale themes are a guideline, but not so strictly followed that the story is too predictable. This book should be quite the dramatic finale to the series, as the main cast of characters navigate interstellar war and politics to end the Lunar queen’s reign. The cast of characters is diverse, and the romances aren’t forced. I highly recommend this series for its complex female characters, awesome sci-fi worlds, and the fantasy elements woven throughout the action packed scenes.

Divergent Veronica Roth

Hunger Games 2.0, this book became incredibly popular when The Hunger Games trilogy finished, and it’s easy to see why it quickly became a new favorite in the dystopian genre. It has a lot of similarities- The population is divided into isolated groups, there are life and death competitions, there’s star crossed lovers, and the main character is a Strong Female Character™, who has to single handedly take on the oppressive leaders in a sort of twist on the Chosen One cliche. I love the Hunger Games, but that doesn’t mean I want to read/watch it again, only with less compelling characters and world building.

Actually, the book was ok. The writing was iffy, and some of the plot twists were predictable (or just didn’t make sense), and I do take issue with some of the pacing, but it was fine. The movie, however...It took everything wrong with divergent, and made it sooo much more obvious.

Tris’ kind of creepy relationship with her mentor became even creepier when a thirty year old guy was cast to play a sixteen  year old’s love interest. Shailene Woodley may have been twenty one at the time, but that is still a big age difference between the actors. Tris’ evolution from Abnegation  to Dauntless in the book was fast, but it was easy for the reader to fill in gaps and picture her working harder and looking stronger by the time Dauntless initiation comes to an end. In the movie, she only got a little angrier, and suddenly she was this super awesome fighter. There was no obvious change physically. She didn’t gain muscle or really practice and yet it is supposed to be believable that she is improving at such a fast rate and becoming this great fighter. On the topic of fighting, the majority of the fight scenes were either poorly choreographed, obviously staged, or both. The pacing of the movie was also weird. There are scenes where it should have taken a character much longer to complete a last minute save, and there are scenes where it’s just odd, how much time they’re taking to have a conversation in a time sensitive scenario. When writing a book, the laws of physics are bendable, and details are flexible, but when you transfer that to film... you have to make adjustments to pacing that just didn’t happen in this movie. Another thing left out of the movie, was details. There wasn’t a very good explanation of the test in the beginning of the movie, leading to some confusion. There was also little explanation of the dauntless community, and how it worked. Actually, there was little explanation as to how any part of this society worked, unlike in the book. The end of the movie had a huge info dump, though. If they could spread out information throughout the movie, the ending would be a lot more understandable.

I’m not even going to go into why the concept of divergent is also confusing... I know a lot of people in the Divergent universe are divergent but... shouldn’t everyone? Doesn’t everyone have more than one personality trait and a complex moral code? This was the same in the book and the movie,though, so I can’t really dock the movie any points for it.

Overall, this movie was rather dull, and didn’t do anything for the book series. I wouldn’t really recommend it.